Damsel
by MiraResQNU
Summary: ONESHOT! Revelations during a late night rescue... [KazuMimori]


Damsel

ONESHOT- Revelations during a late night rescue… [KazuMimori

A/N: Why spoil the fun? Explanation at the end… This one's for those few KazuMim fans out there: let's recruit a few more…

Warning: for language, lime, and general bizarritiness.

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Sighing miserably, Mimori rested her chin on her knees as she mulled over her current predicament. The four cold concrete walls surrounding her except for the solid steel door left little question as to her fate.

'_So this is how it ends up… After everything…'_

Having tucked herself deep into one of the corners of her prison cell, the dark-haired girl was nearly resigned to her misfortune when an odd sound caught her attention- the loud screech of bending metal. After hours of isolated confinement curiosity got the best of Mimori and she pushed to her feet to investigate. Walking hesitantly towards the sound, she was in the middle of the floor when the door suddenly exploded- _**KA-BOOM!!**_

Mimori instinctively spun around and crouched, wrapping her arms around herself as air and debris blew around her. She squeezed her eyes so tight it made her head throb, but she was too afraid to open them until certain that the concussive force had ceased.

Blinking through the dust as it settled around her, she tried to regain her bearings, _'What in the world was that?'_ The young scientist looked over her shoulder to where the solid gray door used to be, only to stare at the mangled, open frame and the stark silhouette standing in it. Taking in the sight of the tall familiar figure and that spiky, riotous hair, Mimori gasped. She knew him instantly.

"K-Kazuma?"

Mimori's voice sounded faint even to her own ears; she knew he hadn't heard her. She caught the panicked look on his face as his eyes panned the cell, searching. She also recognized the exact moment when his piercing gaze landed on her, because his expression radically changed. A single emotion flitted across his handsome features before his eyes hardened, his strong jaw tightening into a scowl.

Suddenly he charged into the cell right for her causing Mimori to stumble and back away instinctively, "W-what are you-?" He was terrifying- before she knew it, her shoulders hit the far wall behind her. He still barreled toward her, and the frightened girl flattened herself against the wall, head tilted sharply to the side, bracing for some bizarre sort of impact from his sheer momentum.

However, just inches from her he stopped. Grunting from deep in his chest, Kazuma drove his armored right fist straight into the concrete just inches from Mimori's shoulder; she screamed as the wall fractured behind her.

Silence followed.

Cracking open her eyes, Mimori sent a sidelong glance over to the Alter User who had broken into her cell, only to blink in confusion at his closed eyes. He was poised above her- over her- breathing heavily through his nose against the tight set of his jaw. She was so bewildered that she spoke without really thinking,

"Kazuma? W-what are you doing?"

He held his breath as if shoring up a precious ounce of control. "You _lied_ to me."

She sputtered, dazed, "What? No, I-"

But the irate teen interrupted her protests, "-You said you had to go back. That you _wanted_ to go back to HOLY."

Mimori gulped audibly, but hurried to explain herself, "I did. I… needed to fix things."

Kazuma opened his eyes but instantly averted them, as if looking at her was painful. The volume of his voice steadily rose, betraying his anger, "You never said they were looking for you!" His control from just a moment before was soon all but lost, "That there was a _warrant_ out on you!"

She almost wilted under his accusatory tone, "I didn't want you to try and stop me…"

But he just huffed before continuing as if he hadn't heard her, "…And now I find you here in this _cell_. In this _very familiar_ cell at HOLY!"

"I know… I-"

"-You made us think you were unhappy!"

She gulped again, "No… I…"

"-That you wanted to be with _him_!" On his last word Kazuma finally looked her in the eye, revealing a pain so bottomless Mimori thought she might drown in it.

It stung- like a slap in her face. And so her response was louder and more frantic than she meant for it to be- "I _never_ said that!"

He took a small step back, his gaze drifting away again as if to shelter himself from his own raw emotions. "Well what were we supposed to think? Why else would you come back?"

She pleaded with her thin voice, somehow unable to bear his inability to look at her, "I told you! I needed to fix things! It was my fault!"

But he adamantly shook his head, "That's bullshit, Mimori! It wasn't your fault. Nobody blames you-"

She blurted it without even thinking, "-Ayase does! And she's right-"

Kazuma's frown deepened, his gaze now chastising, "-No, she's not. You should have let me help you."

"I didn't want you involved! You deserve better than that…" She sighed heavily, desperately.

"That's my decision to make. And- God, Mimori- why would you think that?! Why in the world do you think I wouldn't want to help you?!" His voice steadily rose; she was making absolutely no sense to him.

"But that's just… I don't want your charity, Kazuma!"

Now it was his turn to look utterly baffled. "Charity? Is that what you think? Why? Why the _hell_ would I do that? What makes you think I'd treat you like that?" His eyes searched hers, as if to pin down some barely tangible truth.

Mimori felt her chin quiver with uncertainty, but she began to answer anyway, "A-Ayase said…"

His eyes instantly narrowed suspiciously, "She said what?"

Her words sputtered out beneath his skeptical stare, "That… t-that you felt sorry for me… That t-that was the only reason…"

"SHIT!!"

Kazuma suddenly withdrew from her to blast his armored fist into the wall again, making an even larger crack than before. Mimori screamed again, shielding herself.

When he turned back toward her his face was a jumble of pain and confusion, "So you've thought… all this time…? Damnit, Mimori, _why_?!"

She shot him back a hurt yet incredulous look, "_Why?!_ Why _else_, Kazuma? Why else would you keep a girl like me around? Because you're a nice guy…"

"Mimori, I am _not_ a nice guy! I'm a sonofabitch and you should know better…"

When he stalked away from her she came off the wall to follow him, grabbing his arm. "No! No, you're a good person." When he refused to look at her she pressed on, speaking earnestly to his back, "You helped me when everyone else was pointing fingers. You didn't treat me differently; instead you helped me… helped me fit in, until I could fend for myself…"

He averted his gaze, slightly embarrassed at her praise, "That was mostly Kanami…" He tried to pretend that the weight of her gentle hold didn't affect him.

But she sighed deeply; she had to make him understand. Softly releasing Kazuma's arm, Mimori took a reluctant step away from him, "…But I can't keep leaning on you like that. It's not fair. To you and her… You should get to live your life now."

His eyes flew open, "Me and her?" He nearly laughed, thinking she meant Kanami, until he saw the vowel forming on her lips; then he genuinely laughed, "Wait, _her_?! God, Mimori! How did you get this so mixed up?!"

"Mixed up?! I thought I was helping! I thought I was doing the right thing!"

"By leaving and nearly getting yourself killed? How does that help?" Unfortunately for Mimori, the brash teen was still smiling that cocky-assed grin of his, making her feel suddenly rather foolish.

"It… it wasn't supposed to turn out this way… I was supposed to set things right… and disappear. You were supposed to live happily ever after! You… you weren't supposed to come back for me." She looked up into a pair of suddenly serious eyes.

"Why not?"

For a moment she just blinked at him, unable to think of a proper answer; all logic was steadily slipping away like sand through someone's fingers. She started sputtering again, stumbling through her thoughts, "B-because… because you have her…" She whimpered, shaking her head when he tried to interrupt, "And… because… I don't belong…" Lending voice to that last traitorous thought nearly broke her. Mimori looked down, ashamed.

His gentle fingers beneath her chin thus surprised her, but she let Kazuma guide her wide wet eyes back up to his. She vaguely noticed that he'd stepped much closer to her, probably the closest they'd ever been to each other; if she took a deep breath, perhaps they would touch…

"Hey…"

His voice recaptured her fleeting attention, "…you've always belonged."

The sincerity in his eyes was so strong that she wilted against the wall behind her, a single tear escaping from the corner of her eye to roll down her cheek. "Do… do you mean that?"

Without releasing her chin, Kazuma raised the pad of his thumb to gently wipe beneath Mimori's eye, but another droplet stubbornly rolled down in its place.

"Yeah, I do. You belong back home, with us… You belong… with me."

She blinked in surprise, releasing another renegade tear. "W-with you?"

He leaned in a hair's breadth closer and she knew that if she took a deep breath now they would _definitely_ touch, besides his fingertips beneath her chin… their faces were so…

"Yeah, with me," Kazuma whispered and moved closer still, his nose barely grazing hers as he looked steadfastly into her eyes.

"But… I thought…" she was distracted by the feel of their breath mingling as she whispered back, and by that strange look in his eye.

Mimori nearly squeaked when she suddenly felt Kazuma snake his armored right arm gently around her waist and pull her off the wall, flush against the length of his muscular body. Cocking an eyebrow, he smirked ruefully down at her, "Well I guess you thought wrong…"

His eyes drifted longingly to her lips, fingertips barely grazing her jaw line now. Mimori instinctively flattened her palms against his firm chest, her breath hitching as she watched him lick his lips.

Her stomach fluttered- she had been _very_ wrong- and her exhilaration over that fact led her to push one of her hands further up his chest, over the prominent curve of his collarbone and up the side of his neck until her fingers settled softly along his nape. She felt his whole body shiver at her touch and she smiled up at him through the shade of her dark wet lashes.

"…guess so…" she murmured, pushing up on her tiptoes and slowly closing her eyes. She felt his head bend beneath her fingers and knew he had accepted her silent invitation, her acceptance.

Mimori felt the strange charge of his skin an instant before their lips actually touched, a whispered prelude to the harmony that became their kiss. Her mouth was soft and pliant, his strong and needy as they both pushed all of their past frustrations into this culmination of an undeniable chemistry. It surged between them, a palpable energy generated from _everything_- from weeks of pent up desperation and anguish, from near hits and misses, from glorious relief and sheer ridiculous happiness.

Mimori knew she was crying again but just couldn't seem to care, because Kazuma's arms tightened around her, making her more than happy to melt against him if that was at all possible. And it wasn't until they temporarily broke apart that she realized how tightly she'd been holding on to him. A bit embarrassed, Mimori ducked her head but couldn't quite loosen her grip on his neck. And somehow, she could feel that dashing smile of his shining down on her.

"So can I take you home now?"

Hazarding a gaze up through the curtain of her lashes, Mimori soon found herself mirroring Kazuma's conspiratorial grin. Pulling his head down for an abbreviated encore, she gave him a rather unconventional yet enthusiastic answer. The immediate response of his body to her only seemed to fuel her vigor, _'I could definitely get used to kissing him on a regular basis'_

However, once they broke apart again the young fighter merely countered with a dubious smirk, a single eyebrow raised in mock perplexity- apparently only her words would do…

Rolling her eyes playfully, Mimori was nevertheless more than happy to oblige him, "Yes, Kazuma. I want to go home… with you."

The genuine smile that brightened his entire face warmed the young woman from her toes all the way up to the roots of her ebony hair. But before she could selfishly claim his lips for a third time she found herself swept up into the strong cradle of his arms,

"Good answer. Now hold on tight to me-" There was no time for questions or protests as the air hummed around them, charged with the energy of the summoning of Kazuma's evolved Alter. The grip of his normal arm tightened on her, and Mimori buried her nose in the crook of his neck as he suddenly barreled towards the cracked concrete wall, **"-SHOCKING FIRST BULLET!!"**

With the force of another explosion, Kazuma rocketed them into the crisp night sky. Safe in his arms, Mimori lifted her eyes to the sparkling stars, feeling closer to them now than ever before.

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A/N: Ever had a story that you really liked conceptually but just didn't have the time to write? Well, one of my plot bunnies ran amok and what you just read was the result- the end of a story that I never wrote. There should be enough clues in the content to get the important stuff, for the rest you're on your own (fun, right?). Sorry for the Ayase bashing- it was convenient. And yes, it's a oneshot. That's it.

I'd love some feedback if you have the time- Loved it? Hated it? Do let me know. :)

And yes, updates for 'Evolution' are in the works- shouldn't be too long.

Thanks for reading, Mira


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